R O T H A R . C O M

Meirhaeghe won in Madrid, beating his nearest rival by almost a minute and a half and covering 48km at an average speed of almost 24km/h. That’s fairly rapid. In the womens class Paola Pezzo finished 6th in her first big race since coming out of retirement to compete for olympic gold. The results are here. Race two of the series is in the Belgian Ardennes this coming weekend.

The Giro continues and there is a round up of the Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon over at Cyclingnews. Armstrong took the last stage, Moreau won overall and Cadel Evans was disqualified. Summary here.

This weekend sees the first round of the Mountain Bike World Championships taking place in Madrid. There’s a website dedicated to this years series up on the UCI website.

I think Meirhaeghe is going to be tough to beat again this year which is a good thing if it makes for an exciting series and everyone trying to beat him. I don’t know how but I missed this Bikemagic interview originally – it’s a reasonable read. Following up from a recent post I think his comments on 29ers are interesting:

Q: Do you expect to see more 29in wheel bikes used by World Cup racers, now that they are UCI legal?

A: I am not in favour of 29inch wheels being allowed in racing. First of all it is so difficult for the market to adapt – brakes, forks, everything has to be adapted. I think it is rude they have allowed that, maybe they want to evolve it more like cyclo-cross. Also, the length of race, some people want them shorter. In one or two years it could be just like cyclo-cross – one hour races with cyclo-cross bikes. It’s two completely different sports and it’s a difference in length. One hour is a resistence sport and two hours is an endurance sport, [and it’s a] completely different athlete who does these two things. So I don’t think we should evolve into shorter races or to 29in wheels. They will be allowed from the first of January, I hope they will be disallowed from the second of January. There was a questionnaire to all of the teams and I think 90% of the teams said no and then it was approved. Why have a questionnaire? I cannot understand that.

The fourth version of the penguin series has been released. You can find it at yetisports.

There is a fair chance that John Kerry will be the next President of the United States and if you didn’t know not only is he a rider, he has fairly good taste in bikes, although possibly not cycling apparel. That’s a rather expensive Serotta…

If you only follow one link from todays post, then let it be this one: Jim Strange’s list of potential sponsor replacements for the US Postal Service team is here. Including suggestion #4:

Federal Express. The other mortal enemy of USPS, the kits would be a great improvement over UPS and they could have clever mottos like “When you absolutely, positively have to be there first.” The team would flown around Europe stuffed into boxes on a cargo jet.

Mean while the US Postal team have been keen to show that T-Mobile will not have an easy fight on their hands come the Tour. They have been showing their strength in recent stages of the Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon. Even the current leader of the race, Thor Hushovd, commented: “I asked myself what was going on. Honestly, I was worried. It was as if they wanted to test everybody before the Tour and frankly I think everyone was tested. Even Armstrong took pulls at the front… Incredible.”

When you find out that you’ve killed a bike, there are a few things you could do, but whilst you think about what it is you want to be riding next, you could always do a sort of photo tribute to it and go through the highs and low of ownership. Sort of a bit like this.

Someone over in the ‘States has made the critical error of saying he doesn’t like Singlespeeding being the way it is. Yep it’s different and deservedly so. In what must be the first post for a long time, maybe ever without either politics or porn, Big Jonny has composed a critique and defence of the one geared riders. Unfortunately given that there is a huge amount of ‘interesting material’ over at Drunkcyclist, some of you won’t want to be reading it at work…

The Giro has passed the halfway point and Saeco have a firm rein on events. There’s more on that and the fact that Lance Armstrong’s USPS presented by Berry Floor team seem to have secured a replacement sponsor for US Postal here.

Cipolini’s departure from the Giro hasn’t been a silent event. He’s had some choice words about, well pretty much everything and is now talking of throwing in the towel before Le Tour. And finally Millar has spoken about the Cofidis shenanigans for the first time – Velonews has the article.

An old friend of mine from Guernsey was in the shop again today. Damian Thacker and I met at a ten mile time trial one Thursday night. It might have been a Tuesday, but my memory is a bit hazy. Anyway he rocked up on a mountain bike with slicks and proceeded to set one of the fastest times of the night, much to the chagrin of some of the roadies there. To all present it was obvious that he was pretty handy on a bike.

These days, Damian is most frequently seen in various stages of preparation for what seems to be an increasingly successful Triathlon career, including a recent 16th place at the ITU World Triathlon Championships in Madeira. High Tri placings mean that you not only have to be good on the bike, but that you have to be good in each of the three legs. Good effort I reckon.

Here’s the latest from Italy.

And the new XC course at Innerleithen is now nearly all finished. I think we’re going to have to get back up there for another crack fairly soon.

And this is a very, very, very good idea. I am quite jealous.

The Giro is on. Simoni is in Pink and Cipo is in the stink:

From: Cyclingnews
Subject: Cipollini carries on

Mario Cipollini took the start in the fifth stage of the Giro d’Italia, the morning after a violent crash in the closing metres of a wet, dangerous stage 4. Cipollini crashed heavily in the final sprint, taken out by his leadout man Andrus Aug who drifted off course while looking around in the bunch finish. The Lion King required 14 stitches to attend to deep cuts in his shin and elbow, but slept in the team hotel after being examined at the hospital in San Donato di Arezzo. X-rays ruled out any fractures for Cipollini.

“Last night wasn’t easy,” Cipollini said before today’s stage start. “What worries me the most is my ankle, but I have to try [to start] for the tifosi… it’s my duty. I’ll try to pedal and I hope to finish the stage. To finish would already be a success.”

All exciting stuff, but perhaps not as exciting for wheel connoisseurs as a first glimpse of the widely expected and much anticipated Dura Ace carbon wheels. They’re here.

Causing a bit of an uproar is news that a 29er has won a mountain bike cross country race in the Netherlands, where since UCI rules were changed to permit the inclusion of 700c wheeled bikes, racers have been turning up with thinly veiled cyclo cross bikes, much to the angst of ‘mountain bikers’.

Officials have now stared debating a world of weirdness including making the use or proper sized mountain bike tyres a requirement. Quite wether a proper mountain bike tyre is a 1.5 Conti Cross Country or a 2.5 Nokian Gazzalodi or something in between is not clear, but as John Stevenson has aptly pointed out:

As someone who was deeply involved in mountain bike racing in the UK the first time this debate rolled round in the late 1980s, I can’t help but think this is all a bit silly. If a ‘mountain bike’ race course is so technically undemanding that it can be won on a cyclo-cross bike, then so be it. Either redesign the course, or put up with it. Artificial equipment rules to exclude a type of bike that you don’t like is exactly the sort of nonsense that drove people away from road racing and into mountain bike racing back in the ’80s and early ’90s.

The original rule against tyres bigger than 26in was introduced on ‘safety’ grounds – on a well-designed mountain bike course a cyclo-cross bike would be a hazard, the reasoning went, even though cyclo-crossers seemed to survive events like the UK’s Three Peaks Race on a course that no sane person would tackle on anything but a mountain bike. No mountain bike racer I talked to at the time wanted to exclude the ‘crossers, especially as we’d found ourselves being welcomed warmly at their events. But the rule happened anyway, because it’d never do to actually foster good relations between different branches of cycling.

What happens when you mess with a fixed gear bike? It shows it’s disgust by exacting oily revenge, meaning you’ll have one less digit to prod at it with in future. Carnage here.

And on singlespeed themes, Race Face kit is not invincible to the power of one.

Finally the recreational drug of choice for a generation is starting to get people into trouble, especially those growing it for personal use. America might be the land of the free, but I’m fairly certain the American dream wasn’t based on building wealth by growing pot. As former professional downhiller Myles Rockwell has just found out. I think there’s a lesson in there somewhere, but ‘don’t get caught’ isn’t necessarily it.

Why no photos from Glentress? Several people have asked. Well it’s because I forgot the camera, which I have started to thing was a good thing. Now normally I like stopping every now and then and taking in the scenery and the view and recording it on the camera.

Yet doing that does tend to interrupt any flow you get to your riding, so when the trails are good sometimes it’s better to ride them and not have to worry or think about anything else. Secondly I think when you’re carrying something delicate and expensive, you tend to subconsciously hold back a bit, which isn’t what you want when you’re trying to progress your riding.

Talking of progression, I have decided that there is no need for a big ring on the FSR and so I’ve just put on one of the Race Face bash guards, which is a fairly substantial piece of kit by any standards. It means the bike now has an enormous amount of BB clearance and there’s less to worry about when riding over stuff.

Steve Peat won the recent and increasingly popular Red Bull downtown race in Lisbon. There are some photos over at cyclingnews and PinkBike has the report.

Meanwhile the Giro d’Italia is in full swing. There’s plenty of coverage around, but Cyclingnews seem to be leading the way in terms of excellent reports. There’s more from the BBC and Pezcycling.

I linked up pushbikes.ca when it first started out. The site seems to be going from strength to strength, so if you haven’t been back there for a while it might be a good time to take another look. hilst you need flash to look at Leigh Hargrove’s site, it’s a class bit of work and the photos are fantastic.

Busy, busy, busy. Not much time for thinking about bikes these last few days.

Computer problems, work problems and tonight the backbox of the exhaust fell off the car on the motorway transforming a normally burbly motor into a TVResque monster. Fortunately my hearing is now recovering.

There’s some nice kit in the latest tech update from Cyclingnews. The Morningstar tools are also tested in the latest issue of Dirtrag.

I’ve been saying it for a long time but here’s the latest doom and gloom.

From: Bikebiz
Subject: Will bike shops be bike shops in summer 2004?

It’s becoming increasingly likely that there’s soon going to be a critical supply and demand problem in bicycle shops around the world. There’s not enough Shimano to go round. Not even the big guys can get their hands on enough of the stuff. For the first time ever, bicycle suppliers are hoping for a damp summer. BikeBiz.com has been reporting on the Shimano gruppo delays since December 2003 and on the raw materials shortage since February.

After a fair bit of faffing and wondering if it was actually going to happen a few of us made the trek up to Glentress once again. After the snowy affair earlier this year, the weather couldn’t have been more different. There was dust blowing and the trails were in great shape.

We rode the red route on Sunday morning, starting off with a bit of a muck about on the dual course. Then as we were going round we detoured up to the ‘shore section and after watching Jon clean it on his first go proceeded to try and follow suit. the chosen method for this was to build confidence by riding a bit then riding it again and the next bit until the whole thing was cleaned.

The see-saw proved to be interesting. The first time I ran out of speed just on the pivot and had to jump the bike off it sideways. The second time I cleared it and the third time I rode off the edge of it and crashed out in spectacular style with a fork bottoming nose dive. Not to be defeated it was straight back on the bike and at it again, cleaning it nicely.

After ripping down the black it was off to Innerleithen after a nice lunch at the Hub in the Forest. We all pushed our way to the top and the start hut and then found our way down – a journey interspersed with big jumps, getting caught mid air by gusts of wind, bottoming out suspension, avoiding trees and big rocks and getting the disc brakes warm. After a few cans of obilgatory Red Bull, the Midget and I rode the cross country course.

I wish MacPuppy Blance had been there to show us around, because while the first half of it and the climb up to the trig point on Minch Moor at 567m was a well marked and laid out route the riding up on the tops and the descents were a bit of a disappointment and we could have done with some local knowledge to show us the way.

After a curry in Peebles on Sunday night, Monday saw us tackle the black run again. For Ben and I it was the first chance to ride it without snow and what a difference it made. The downhills were ridable and everything.

Tomorrow morning I am being interviewed live on Radio 5 regarding the new legislation on bicycle bells that comes into effect from the 1st May. I am beginning to regret saying I’d do it, but as we’re off up to Glentress after work at least there is a highlight to the day.

Girly gear here. Probably in the wrong shades of pink and baby blue and probably guaranteed to result in the comment: Is this all you’ve got? T’is true. You just can’t win.

I am always interested in people who bodge stuff together. I have no idea if this is a thing of interest to anyone else, but there is some trailer shonkiness here.

Oh and get hot and sweaty more often. It’s good for you.

From: Bikebiz
Subject: Get breathless and sweaty five times a week, urges top doc

Couch potatoes beware, Britain’s Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has today published a report urging Brits to shed pounds not by signing up for costly gym membership but adding physical activity into their everyday lives. In other words? Hoover vigorously, walk to the newsagents, cycle to school.

Sir Liam has released a report on physical activity and health, At Least Five A Week. Smoking and unhealthy diet have long been established as major causal factors for chronic disease but the report says that inactive living is equally important. Sir Liam Donaldson said:

“People need to stay active over the whole of their lives if they are to stave off the threat of obesity and killer diseases like cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes and cancer.

“We are moving less than our parents and grandparents. This is a major risk factor for the nation’s health. We need to combat the ‘couch potato’ culture, and this means building moderate everyday physical activity into our lives.

“It is not about spending hours and hours in the gym, but it is about finding ways to build activities into our daily lives.”

For general health benefit, adults should achieve a total of at least 30 minutes a day of at least moderate intensity physical activity, on five or more days of the week.

This report will be considered by Ministers when they draw up the forthcoming White Paper on Public Health, following the public consultation exercise, currently under way.

John Reid, Health Secretary, said:

“This is an excellent report which clearly sets out the importance of a more active lifestyle. The challenge for all of us; Government, business, the voluntary sector and individuals themselves, is how we achieve that.”

Sir Liam said the recommended levels of activity could be achieved either by doing all the daily activity in one session or through shorter bouts of activity of 10 minutes or more.

“For example, an adult may take a daily brisk walk or cycle to work and children could be encouraged to walk to school, in addition to two or three weekly leisure activities such as swimming, football, or gym. All activity can help prevent obesity, so people should make the most of all small opportunities to be active such as using stairs and doing the gardening.”

The report highlights that up to two-thirds of men and three quarters of women don’t take enough physical activity for a health benefit; a quarter of adults and six per cent of 2-20 year olds are obese; and the cost of inactivity – direct costs of treatment and indirect costs caused through sickness absence – is an estimated £8.2bn annually.

Global warming is hard to appreciate until it begins to affect you directly and the fact that sea level is rising probably faster thanks to human action that it would have been doing naturally is just one consequence. Recent research has shown that the rate of rising oceans isn’t a spatially equal process. I found this today. It made me think:

“Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money can not be eaten” Cree Indian Philosophy

After demand for some different local weather forecasting due to a bout of inaccuracy from the beeb, there’s now a few more options.

For those interested in the more extreme side of the sport, there are some nice photos of the Turner/Honda freeride bike over at Pinkbike as well as news that Wayne Goss has won the third annuall Race Face Ultimate Freeride Challenge.

Finally racing in the opening Sea Otter race this year was so dry that some of the pros wer running semi slicks, or totally slicks, or even ‘cross wheels and tyres on their mountain bikes. Pretty mad stuff. Velonews also have an good interview with legendary rider Missy Giove.